8.  The applicant was born in 1954 and lives in Paphos.
9.  The applicant is a gynaecologist. On 10 October 1994, a pregnant woman, Mrs A., died at the hospital of Paphos after being transferred there from a private clinic. The applicant, who had been her medical practitioner, had taken the decision to transfer her to hospital because he had been unable to detect at the clinic the cause of a haemorrhage from which she had been suffering.
10.  On 7 August 1995 the administrators of the estate of the deceased lodged a civil action against the applicant before the District Court of Paphos claiming damages for alleged medical negligence on his part.
11.  The parties’ pleadings were completed between 4 September 1995 and 22 December 1995. Within this period the court dealt with an application by the applicant for dismissal of the action for want of prosecution on the basis of the plaintiffs’ failure to deliver their statement of claim within the required time. This application was withdrawn by the applicant and then dismissed by the court once the plaintiffs filed their statement of claim.
12.  On 9 January 1996, the applicant filed an application requesting that a preliminary point of law be examined before the hearing of the action. In particular, the applicant claimed that the action ought to have been dismissed on the ground that another action, that had been filed earlier and concerned the death of the same person, was also pending before the same district court. Initially, the plaintiffs were granted time to file an objection to the application but when they subsequently withdrew the action they had previously lodged, the applicant proceeded on 22 May 1996 to withdraw his own application claiming his costs. Accordingly, the court dismissed the application, awarding the applicant his costs.
13.  On 22 August 1996 the plaintiffs applied to the court to fix the case for mention or hearing. Subsequently, on 5 September 1996 the district court fixed the action for mention for 27 September 1996 and then for hearing for 5 December 1996. However, on that date the court adjourned the hearing until 28 February 1997, at the plaintiffs’ request and with the applicant’s consent, in view of the fact that one of their witnesses was unable to attend and testify for their case on that particular date.
14.  The hearing commenced on 28 February 1997 and was completed on 17 July 1997 with the parties’ final addresses. Approximately ten hearing sessions were held in this period involving the hearing of testimony and the cross-examination of sixteen witnesses. Within this period two short adjournments took place, one by the court itself and one at the plaintiffs’ request. The applicant did not object to these adjournments.
15.  On 9 October 1997 the Paphos District Court delivered its judgment. It held that the applicant was liable for medical negligence causing death, and ordered him to pay by way of damages an amount of 46,200 Cypriot pounds (CYP) plus interest to the deceased’s dependants, as well as one third of the plaintiffs’ costs.
16.  On 19 November 1997 the applicant appealed to the Supreme Court against the first instance judgment. He based his appeal on a total of thirty one grounds pertaining to the appraisal of the evidence given at first instance as well as the damages awarded.
17.  In this connection, the applicant stated that on 24 November 1997 he applied to the Supreme Court to have the appeal fixed for hearing (and provides a copy of this application) whereas the Government maintained that none of the parties made such an application and that on 10 September 1998 the Supreme Court fixed the appeal, ex proprio motu, for pre-trial directions for 27 October 1998.
18.  On 27 October 1998, the Supreme Court gave directions to the parties to file the outlines of their addresses. Accordingly, the applicant filed the outline of his address on 8 December 1998. On 25 January 1999 the Supreme Court fixed the hearing for 22 March 1999. In the meantime, the plaintiffs asked for an extension of forty-five days for submitting their own address. This was granted and the plaintiffs filed their address on 18 March 1999. On 14 June 1999 the parties were notified by the Registrar of the Supreme Court that the appeal was fixed for a hearing for 27 September 1999. On that date the hearing was adjourned at the plaintiffs’ request. On 15 November 1999 the parties were notified by the court that the hearing would take place on 21 January 2000. Finally, after an adjournment decided ex officio by the court on 21 January 2000, the hearing was held on 25 January 2000.
19.  On 14 July 2000, the Supreme Court partially upheld the appeal and ordered a new trial as well as a reduction in the amount of damages that had been set by the district court.
20.  On 5 September 2000 the case was assigned to a Senior District Judge who subsequently fixed it for directions on 27 September 2000 and then for 26 October 2000. On that date, with the parties’ consent, the hearing was set for 1 December 2000. However, on 3 November 2000, the plaintiffs’ lawyers applied for an adjournment of the hearing since they had hearings in other cases on 1 December 2000 and, also, certain of their key witnesses could not be present. The applicant proceeded to file a written objection dated 25 November 2000 in which he stressed that the adjournment was a contrary to Article 6 of the Convention in view of the fact that his case was old and pressing. On 29 November 2000 the Supreme Court issued an interim decision upholding the plaintiffs’ application. Accordingly, the hearing was adjourned and was fixed for 8 and 12 January 2001.
21.  On 8 January 2001, the parties’ lawyers informed the court that they had reached an agreement settling their dispute. In particular, taking into account the circumstances of the case, they agreed on an ex gratia basis that the applicant would pay the plaintiffs, without any admission of liability, CYP 23,000, plus CYP 750 for legal and expert costs. Accordingly, the Supreme Court issued a judgment against the applicant ordering him to pay the above amounts to the plaintiffs, with a stay of execution of the judgment for twelve months on condition that the applicant paid the above amounts by monthly instalments of CYP 2,000 as from 1 February 2001.